


Come Ashore

by savethelastslice



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Turtles, Yesung gets outrun by a turtle, also pink magic is MAGIC, honestly, same, there probably doesn't exist a universe where haehyuk aren't friends though, where Yesung's famous but the other two aren't, which
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 17:57:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21396316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savethelastslice/pseuds/savethelastslice
Summary: His moving truck ended up on the opposite end of Korea, an old neck injury was acting up, and his turtle had outrun him to the pond. Even worse, a fishy-looking stranger was watching the scene unfold like an SNL skit staged for a studio audience of one.Jongwoon could feel an aneurysm coming. Ruefully, he wondered when his life went to shit. Move to the countryside for his healthwhat?
Relationships: Kim Jongwoon | Yesung/Lee Hyukjae | Eunhyuk
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	Come Ashore

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Hey look a short clip of SJ crack haha I won't get into the fandom haha
> 
> Two (2) hours later: well, diddly darn
> 
> Disclaimer: eunhyucks from mokpo in this one and all i know about the Korean countryside is from Modern Farmer

“Hey, what‘cha doing over there?”

Not a thing stirred in the pond, nor the trees, nor in the grassy plain as far as the eye could see. Nothing except for the man in a straw hat crouched at Jongwoon’s 11 o’clock. There wasn’t anyone else around but him, hadn’t been for the past ten minutes he’d been there, which meant, unfortunately, that there was no one else that question could have been addressed too.

Resolutely ignoring him, Jongwoon continued to peer into the murky water. Vaguely, he wondered what kind of algae and bacteria had been left to go rogue as they pleased.

“Ddangkoming!” He whispered, leaning forward in his squatting position. “Come back to hyung!”

Across the water, the man’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Hey, you okay? Are you constipated or something?”

Well. He was in an incriminating squatting position. But still.

Jongwoon could feel an aneurysm coming. Ruefully, he wondered when his life went to shit. Move to the countryside for his health _what_?

\---

“You’re kidding me. You’d better say you’re kidding me or you’re bloody disowned, Jongjin.”

“Yah hyung, you think I’d lie about this?”

That’s the thing, he wouldn’t. Jongwoon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Then tell me how in the name of all makes sense - how did my stuff end up at _Andong_?”

“I don’t know! Junghoon hyung’s trying to get them to get to Mokpo as fast as possible but they said it’ll be at least a day’s wait. Do you have your money with you?”

“No, I leave my goddamn wallet in the moving van - of course I have my wallet.”

Jongjin’s sigh over the phone sent a pang of guilt. It wasn’t his dongsaeng’s fault things ended up this way. But being in a countryside he’d never seen in his life - alone - wasn’t doing much for his mood.

“Mum said there’s a local store where you can get essentials. She said the market might be open if you get there by late afternoon, and there should be a mattress in the house so you don’t need to worry. You did bring the keys right? The pillow isn’t memory foam though, will your neck be okay?”

Jongwoon touched the back of his neck self-consciously, the swelling still slightly there. Ten plus years of performing did that to a man, he supposed. If light manual labour and countryside air could help him without more acupuncture needles he’d probably kiss the ground and cry.

He took a deep breath. The late morning air was already clearer, this far from the city.

“I think I can handle a normal pillow for a night since I can’t see any neck isolations in the next month at least,” Jongwoon finally replied warily. “You think the neighbours will know who I am?”

Jongjin snorted. “Hyung, late-grandpa’s neighbours aren’t exactly your target demographic.”

“Still, maybe I should have dyed my hair back before I left.” The bright pink didn’t exactly scream ‘not famous’.

“Relax. Just don’t bust out a trot single from now till you get there, huh?” Jongjin lowered his voice. “And please take care of yourself. Everyone’s really worried for you, you know.”

Jongwoon was silent for a moment. Of course he knew, saw it in their faces everyday since he’d collapsed in the middle of a stage, unable to even lift his head when he was carried to the waiting room and the paramedics arrived. At least it was the second recording, which meant that they still had enough footage to air.

Extreme dieting and exercising, the doctor had told him. Coupled with an aggravated old injury which Jongwoon had resigned himself to as a working hazard - his muscles refusing to cooperate like Shindong’s would had meant extra hours in the studio, head bobbing from left to right until it went stiff.

Still, enough was enough. Jongwoon wasn’t dumb or self-destructive enough to not know that. So here he was, en route to his grandfather’s old place in the countryside, forced into temporary hiatus. His chest still ached something painful when he recalled the looks on his parent’s faces.

“I know, Jongjin. I’m sorry.”

There was a suspiciously wet sniff over the line. “Yeah, you better be. Maybe making friends with some actual grandpas will help you loosen up, huh?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got Ddangkoming with me.”

“A turtle doesn’t replace human interaction, hyung.”

He sighed at his dongsaeng’s tone. “Fine, fine. I won’t be an anti-social hermit.” A pause. “You think they’ll know Leeteuk hyung’s songs? I can sing those.”

“For the last time, you’re there to rest and not to work.”

“Fine.”

“There’s more to you than your voice, you know.”

Jongwoon rolled his eyes. “I know.”

So that problem number one: no clothes, hardly any belongings. 

That sucked. Jongwoon looked down at his attire for the day: a baggy white shirt and jeans that didn’t look designer but definitely were. He wiggled his toes inside his pair of less-expensive shoes and sighed. He could live.

After another five minutes of Jongjin’s nagging Jongwoon was finally able to continue on his way. It hadn’t rained the previous day or some of the roads would have been pretty muddy. Not long before he caught sight of the farmhouse he passed by an idyllic plain with a nice-looking pond, breaking the monotony of fields. 

Beside him, Ddangkoming squirmed in the tank. Hmm.

After parking, Jongwoon deposited his bag in the house and looked around. It was a simple one-story house beside an empty plot of land. His manager had clearly arranged for someone to come set it up for him - the windows were thrown open to air the place, the floors were clean, and the electricity and water bills had been paid.

He crossed the room and stood in the doorway, staring at the plot of land. His grandfather had been a cabbage farmer. Vaguely he wondered how long cabbages might take to grow.

By his feet, Ddangkoming continued to squirm in the tank. Jongwoon finally took pity on him and crouched down to stare through the holes.

“You poor thing, stuck in the car the whole day.” He searched his memory for what he had packed in the backpack that lay on the table and lit up. He hadn’t seen the market or the store when he had arrived. The mid-afternoon sun was still high in the sky and he had found some kimchi and rice in the fridge earlier, so that could wait. “Want to go for a walk?”

So it was that Jongwoon slapped on some sunscreen, shades, and a broad hat and, with Ddangkoming safely attached to his turtle leash, set out from the house.

As he’d first suspected, the pond was the perfect place to walk a turtle. A cool breeze blew the scent of grass and leaves around him, the trees shaded him from direct sunlight. The air was impossibly crisp, nothing like Seoul. Jongwoon took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“This is not too bad, huh?” He addressed the turtle, lips feeling like twitching up wouldn’t be such a bad idea. “You’re lucky I kept the turtle feed in my bag.” He looked down at the empty patch of grass next to him and frowned. Then he looked at his empty hands.

Next to him, the sound of something falling into the water.

Shit.

Jongwoon was next to the water in a flash. Too late, he could glimpse the tail end of the yellow leash bobbing further and further away from him. For a moment, Jongwoon just kind of stood there because - did, did a turtle managed to outrun him?

Maybe he should have gotten the thicker leash, with the bulky handhold. But no, the thinner one looked better with his small hands and was also cheaper so that wasn’t an option. Maybe he should have been born with larger hands. Dammit.

His first thoughts went to the old bug-catching net. That multipurpose tool, that. Unfortunately, it was packed in the boxes with his other stuff. Jongwoon groaned.

That’s when the other problem fell atop the slowly growing pile of problems already in Jongwoon’s life.

“Hey! What’cha doing over there?” 

Jongwoon peered over his sunglasses. A man was crouched a distance away. He wore bright purple pants and a broad-brimmed straw hat, long sleeves pushed up. He smiled a gummy smile and waved at Jongwoon, who naturally didn’t wave back, because he was socially awkward.

A few seconds passed, and the stranger kept waving and smiling that annoyingly bright grin. Now was definitely too awkward to say hello back, so Jongwoon resumed his dismayed staring at the surface of the pond water.

Oh, maybe he could get a branch and fish the turtle out by the leash. Jongwoon waddled a short radius around his spot (if he left he might not catch sight of the turtle again) but nope, no branch long enough to be found. Sadly, he waddled back to the edge of the water. If he squinted, there was still a speck of yellow.

“Hey, what‘cha doing over there?”

Jongwoon groaned. Was the man still there? The man was still there. And he was peering curiously over at Jongwoon. He wondered what Dispatch would think of that, top idol Yesung waddling in a circle beside a pond. People would think he had lost his marbles.

But maybe he never had his damn marbles because _Dispatch_ wouldn’t stop hounding after him, and he knew those press people couldn’t be trusted, they probably routinely stole marbles from people just to watch them waddle and they’d circle overhead like vultures to write their stories and -

Across the water, the man’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Hey, you okay? Are you constipated or something?”

Jongwoon wanted to cry.

“ - because even if the fertiliser prices are going up it’s not exactly acceptable to the town committee...? And even less so if you’re um, collecting it in a public place…?”

Jongwoon wanted to punch something.

“ - um actually if you carry down that road there’s a public restroom and if you’re lucky Madam Kim won’t be there and you won’t have to pay to use it.”

Jongwoon wanted greater limits but no, he didn’t, and that limit had been crossed. Gritting his teeth, he huffed a barely audible reply. “I’m. Not. Shitting.”

The stranger blinked back, all innocent eyes with a muttered “Oh. I see,” but Jongwoon glared anyway because clearly, he didn’t.

Two minutes later, Jongwoon found a suitable looking stick under a bush nearby. Excitedly, he had run to retrieve it only to stand at the edge of the pond only to find himself a few inches short.

“What’cha doing with that stick?”

The stranger was still crouched by the pond. Jongwoon wasn’t sure if he was just imagining things or if he had indeed inched nearer. Just in case, Jongwoon pointedly ignored the stranger and resumed his sulking on the shore. Maybe if he had his insoles…

“Hey now, no need to be rude. I said sorry about the earlier incident already.”

Jongwoon continued his Ddangkoming-finding. This felt oddly like fishing.

“So...I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new? Or just passing through?”

Jongwoon couldn’t help himself, he glanced at the stranger again. Even after all the cold treatment he was still pestering him, huh. Something that felt like guilt prickled in the recesses of his cold, dead heart.

_A turtle doesn’t replace human interaction, hyung_. Under his breath, Jongwoon cursed Jongjin for making sense all the time. Then he quickly took it back.

“I...lost my turtle,” he eventually said lamely.

There was a beat of silence as the stranger continued to stare. Then he erupted in the loudest laughter Jongwoon had heard in his life. Really though, what was he expecting? Cheeks burning, Jongwoon inched to the right.

“Okay sorry, sorry,” the stranger’s voice sounded suddenly and Jongwoon jumped a feet in the air. This was not cool. He turned his head and found himself tilting it down. Stranger was somehow shorter than him. Okay, that was one good thing in a day of awful, awful things. “But you got to admit it’s not a common situation.”

“Mrgh,” Jongwoon huffed back.

“From Seoul?” The stranger cocked a curious eyebrow, smirking. Now that Jongwoon was paying more attention to him, he could hear the pleasant Satoori in his words. “Nice hair.”

Self-consciously, Jongwoon touched his hair. His stylist noona had spent a long time on it. “Thanks.”

“I’m Hyukjae, by the way. Nice to meet you…?”

“Jongwoon,” he replied, the name awkward on his tongue. For a second Hyukjae didn’t say anything and Jongwoon’s blood ran cold. What if…?

His worries were soon swept away by Hyukjae’s gummy smile. “Never heard anyone with that name before, but it’s nice. So, what brings you here?”

“I’m going to live here for a while,” he replied. “My grandfather used to be from here.”

The village couldn’t be that big, if Hyukjae’s widened eyes were any indication. “Oh, you’re grandpa Kim’s grandson? He liked to tell me about the ‘grandson around my age’. Oh! But that makes you hyung, sorry about the banmal, it’s just...you look very young.” From the cheeky grin, he didn’t look that sorry. 

Jongwoon sighed internally because Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and now this guy. Maybe he was just a brat magnet.

“Your vibe attracts your tribe,” the voice of Ryeowook resounded in his mind.

“Whatever,” Jongwoon grouched, in equal parts to Hyukjae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun. The two didn’t need to be physically present for Jongwoon to grouch at them. Their relationship already transcended that boundary.

Hyukjae rocked back and forth on his heels. “So. Turtle.”

Now that brought Jongwoon hurtling down to Earth at lightspeed. “Turtle.”

“I’d run back and get my net, but it’s kind of gross right now, probably’ll give Mr Turtle a ton of gross diseases.”

Jongwoon winced. “Yeah, no thanks.”

“And I don’t think grandpa Kim would have a net.”

“I didn’t check.”

Hyukjae just shrugged. “You know, there is a better way to solve this.”

“Yeah?” Jongwoon allowed himself some hope as he looked over at Hyukjae, deep in thought. “A boat or something? The water looks quite deep.”

Hyukjae stroked his chin. “Can you swim?”

“Huh?”

“Swim. You. Okay?”

“Yeah. No, no you don’t mean - look, these jeans aren’t what you - argh!”

Hyukjae looked like a skinny anchovy but clearly, he was stronger than Jongwoon expected because with a small push, he found the murky brown water rushing up to meet him.

Gasping, Jongwoon scrambled for purchase, feet eventually finding the mushy, slimy ground. He stood up. The water reached his waist. His hair was sopping wet. There were...little things bumping around his legs.

There was a sound of a splash next to him. Jongwoon turned around to see Hyukjae had entered the water too. He was laughing that high-pitched laughter again, eyes two lines on his face, wading over to where Jongwoon stood, gaping. “How’d we find your turtle if you don’t see it, hmm?”

The little _shit_. Jongwoon was going to get an aneurysm, there was no way around it now. “Maybe by the bright yellow harness?” he gritted out. 

Hyukjae at least had the grace to look guilty. “Oh.”

\---

“...I’m sorry, but who wears million-won white shirts anyway?”

Jongwoon just continued to glare straight ahead.

“C’mon, I’ll cook you dinner, wash your clothes for you, and lend you a set of mine. Deal?” 

Jongwoon fixed him with another sulky glare, but it didn’t pack the same punch. Hyukjae grinned. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”

“You’d better,” Jongwoon huffed, shivering in the evening wind. With both hands he clutched Ddangkoming who was looking quite pleased with himself. “Are we almost there yet?”

“Yep, just round this corner - here we are! My neighbour-slash-best friend-slash-best bro for life is cooking tonight so you’re in luck - Donghae-ah! Come see what the turtle dragged in!”

“If it’s another stray cat I swear -” a figure appeared in the open doorway, backlit by the bright lights of the house. Jongwoon stared at him and he stared back, and Jongwoon was a hundred percent sure this guy could easily end up on magazine covers.

Said guy, clad in an apron, dropped the metal ladle he was holding. Next to him, Jongwoon make a _tsk_ sound. “Donghae-ah, what are you doing?”

“‘Pink Magic’,” Donghae blurted out. “My dad loves you, oh my gosh.”

It was Hyukjae’s turn to stare at Jongwoon. He looked back at Donghae, then back at Jongwoon. As Jongwoon’s deer-in-headlight eyes met Hyukjae’s, he absently registered the smell of freshly cooked ramyun from inside the house. His stomach rumbled.

“Ah,” Hyukjae finally said. “So that’s why your shirt costs so much. You’re actually famous?”

Jongwoon and Donghae both shot glares at Hyukjae, who outright defied them and refused to wilt on the spot. Instead, he just laughed. Wiping his eyes, he continued, “I know the fact that you’re a celebrity is supposed to make this situation funnier but honestly, letting a turtle - a turtle on a _leash_ \- run away from you is just peak comedy already.”

“A turtle - leash - a _what_?”

Jongwoon winced for what must have been the hundredth time that day. “Um. Surprise?”

“Famous doesn’t matter if I still don’t know who you are,” Hyukjae sang as Jongwoon stared. Surprisingly, he didn’t hate that someone had said that to him. He didn’t hate that _Hyukjae_ had said that to him. “Now come on before you and the ramyun catch colds.” Laughing at his own joke, he grabbed Jongwoon by the wrist and hauled him through the door, past a sputtering Donghae, and into the house.

Even though he almost tripped on half of the stairs and was almost certain to have shins full of bruises the next day, the lights of the house were warm and Hyukjae’s laughter was bright and Jongwoon found that he didn’t hate that, either.

**Author's Note:**

> yesung's been the default bias because turtles but actually having to choose one is maybe one of the most stressful decisions in the past few days
> 
> thank you for reading! :)


End file.
